The construction of a circularly-polarized-wave radiator from rectilinearly polarized sources may be achieved by one of two combinations. One can use either two identical sources--two dipoles or two slits--disposed perpendicularly to each other, or two superimposed complementary sources such as a dipole and a slit for example.
According to one structure of the prior art, shown in FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawing, such a wave radiator is formed by two complementary sources nested one in the other. The two sources are a dipole 1 photo-etched on a dielectric plate 2, placed in the median longitudinal plane II of a waveguide 3 of rectangular cross-section, and two waveguides 4 and 5 formed from respective halves into which waveguide 3 is divided by plate 2. These two guides 4 and 5 are energized by feed probes 6, connected to a supply line 7, whereas dipole 1 is connected to its supply line 8 through a balun 9.
The construction of such a wave radiator is relatively complicated, since it requires among other things the provision of two power supplies, one for the dipole and the other for the waveguides. Furthermore, since the two waveguides are reduced in height, they do not behave well under high power.